In a message dated 95-12-12 11:07:12 EST,miguel saiz writes:

> hiper cholesterol
>I have a mother with genetic hiper cholesterol, she has to take some
medicine forever and her doctor tell her she can't breastfeed anymore. May
some people help me? The medicines are "Medinacol" and "Propanolor". She
was controling it with diets during pregnancy and sometime after delivery,
anyway her cholesterol was 500, and the baby was 247. She weaned her baby,
but she wants to know for future reference.

I am not familiar with Medinacol.  I wonder if Propanolor should be
propranalol?
This is not a cholesterol medicine but is a beta blocker that is used for
treatment of hypertenion, angina, and migraine headaches.  I would need to
check the references for sure but I think that this medicine is compatible
with breastfeeding.

500 is a very high cholesterol and clearly in need of treatment. A previous
LACTNET post mentions that the cholesterol of the mother can stay up during
and after pregancy for appx 6 months. But your post says the the baby in 1
year old.

There are medicines that might be effective in helping to lower her
cholesterol and still be more compatible with breastfeeding.  There are other
things in the mothers history that are important to look at the big picture
of her heart risk.  How old is she?, does she have a strong family history of
heart disease?, what is her HDL (good cholesterol)?  Does she smoke? (I hope
not), does she have hypertension?, is she overweight?  Does she exercise?,
what kind of diet does she eat?

There is a book by a cardiologist Dr. Dean Ornish, that reports on some truly
remarkable results that he has acheived in reversing blockages of the
coranary arteries by people going on ultra low fat diets (vegetarian),
exercise, stop smoking and stress reduction classes.  I truly think that this
person could make a dramatic lowering of her cholesterol by following a very
rigid diet along these lines.  We know that many vegetarian women breastfeed
healthfully for themselves and their children.

His books are available from any bookstore chain if you ask for them by the
authors name.

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*  Jon Ahrendsen, M.D. FAAFP, LLLI Medical Associate   *
*  215 13th Ave SW                                                        *
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